eet.
While Robin drank one glass, our Johnny drank two,
An' they both got a drunk as my granny's old sow.

It was truly an awkward position for any man to be in. Captain Bell could
not make a defence, and he was excommunicated from the "Glory Band."
Perhaps the following verses, extracted from my piece entitled "My Visit
to t' Glory Band," will give some idea of the incident. I paid my visit
in company with "Owd Jennet, t' Ranter, fra Havercake-row":--

So they prayed, an' they sang, i' ther owd fashioned way,
Until a gert chap says, "I've summat to say;"
An', bi t'heart, I'st a fallen dahn sick i' mi pew,
But I thowt at toan hawf he sed worn't trew;
Fer he charged Parson Ball wi' bein' drunk i't'street,
'At he'd been put ta bed three times i' one neet.

"Does ta hear," says owd Jennet, "what t'hullet is sayin'?
He's usin' his scandal asteead o' bein' prayin';
Fer John Ball is respected by ivvery one,
Soa I salln't believe a word abaat John;
Fer him an' ahr Robin are two decent men,
Soa pray yah nah hearken they'll speak fer thersen.

"Soa all wor nah silent,--they mud hear a pin fall;
Fer nobody wor hissin' or clappin' at all.
Scarce hed long Gomersall spun out his yarn--
Wi' his two blazin' een he had scarcely sat dahn,
Than John stood up on his pins in a minute;--
An' rare an' weel pleased wor I an' owd Jennet.

"My brethren," he sed, wi' a tear in his ee,
"You sall hear for yourselns my accusers an' me,
An' if I be guilty--man's liable ta fall
As well as yer pastor an' servant, John Ball;
But let my accuser, if faults he hes noan,
Be t' first, an' no other, ta throw the first stoan.

"I've drunk wine an' porter, I do not deny,
But then my accusers hev not tell'd you why;
So ther false accusation I feel it more keen,
'Cause I've hed the lumbago i' both o' my een;
Besides, mi back warked as if it wor broke,
An' mi throit's been so parched wol I thowt I sud choke.

"I've been soa distracted, an' handled soa bad,
Wol I thowt monny a time I sud ommost goa mad;
An't' doctor hes tell'd me ther wor noa other way
Nobbut going ta Blackpool or else Morecambe Bay;
An' charged me ta mind, if I sat dahn to dine,
Ta lig inta t' porter, an't' brandy, an't' wine.

"Soa nah, my accusers, what hev you ta say?
You can reckon that up in yer awn simple way;
But if ther's a falsehood in what I hev sed